Los Angeles wildfire threat not taken seriously, say officials

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A giant fireball might have engulfed the northern suburbs of Los Angeles — creating a mushroom cloud that can be seen from Santa Monica to Beverly Hills — but officials yesterday complained that fire-weary locals were not taking it seriously enough.

According to the latest estimates, the fires have now burnt through a 122,000-acre (49,000-hectare) area, covering parked cars with ash, leaving a bitter, smoky taste in the air and threatening the city’s television transmitters along with Edwin Hubble’s historic Mount Wilson Observatory.

Two firefighters have died, more than 50 houses and other structures have been razed, another 12,000 buildings